improve-improve-it

name	improve - Improve It
description	Take something that works but could be better. Find the highest-leverage improvements and apply them. Not for broken things (/fix) — for things that work but underperform their potential.
output	{"format":"prose"}

Improve

Input: $ARGUMENTS

---

Interpretations

Before executing, identify what's being improved:

Interpretation 1 — Code: Working code that could be cleaner, faster, more maintainable, or better designed. Interpretation 2 — Skill/document: A skill, plan, doc, or structured text that works but isn't good enough. Could be tighter, clearer, more effective. Interpretation 3 — Output: Something produced in this conversation that was adequate but not great. Raise the quality bar. Interpretation 4 — Process/approach: A way of doing things that works but leaves value on the table.

If the thing is BROKEN (errors, wrong output, fundamentally flawed), use /fix instead. /improve is for things that work but aren't as good as they could be.

---

Core Principles

1. Working is the baseline, not the goal. Something can work and still be mediocre. The question is: what would make this genuinely good?
2. Highest leverage first. Find the improvement that produces the most quality gain for the least change. Don't rewrite what can be sharpened.
3. Compare to the best, not the average. What does excellent look like in this category? Where does this fall short of excellent? But also: recognize when something is already good. The highest-leverage improvement is sometimes 'stop improving.'
4. Improve the thing, not around it. Don't add features, wrappers, or scaffolding. Make the core better.
5. Know when to stop. Diminishing returns are real. Call out when further improvement isn't worth the effort.

---

Step 1: Read and Baseline

Read the entire target. While reading, establish:

What is this trying to do? (purpose) How well does it do it? (current quality — rate 1-10 with one-line justification) What does excellent look like for this kind of thing? (quality bar — find or name a concrete reference point)

PURPOSE: [what it's for]
CURRENT QUALITY: [specific strengths and weaknesses] — VERDICT: [needs significant work / needs targeted improvements / good enough to ship / excellent]
QUALITY BAR: [what excellent looks like for this kind of thing]
GAP: [the distance between current and excellent]

---

Step 2: Find Improvement Opportunities

Look for these in order. For each, state what's improvable and WHY it matters (not just that it could be different).

Clarity

• Can someone unfamiliar understand this on first read?
• Are there sections that require re-reading?
• Is anything ambiguous where it should be precise?

Density

• Is there filler, padding, or repetition that could be cut?
• Are there 3 sentences doing the work of 1?
• Does every section earn its space?

Effectiveness

• Does it actually achieve its purpose as well as it could?
• Are there steps/sections that don't contribute to the goal?
• What's the weakest part relative to the purpose?

Specificity

• Are instructions concrete enough to act on?
• Are there vague words ("consider," "may want to," "various") where specifics would help?
• Would two people following this produce the same result?

Structure

• Does the order make sense?
• Are related things grouped together?
• Does the structure match how someone would actually use this?

Completeness

• Is anything essential missing?
• Are edge cases handled?
• Does it handle the hard cases, not just the easy ones?

---

Step 3: Prioritize

List all opportunities. Tag each:

IMPROVEMENTS:
[I1] [what to improve] — LEVERAGE: high/medium/low — EFFORT: high/medium/low
[I2] [what to improve] — LEVERAGE: high/medium/low — EFFORT: high/medium/low
...

Do first: high leverage + low effort Do next: high leverage + high effort Skip unless asked: low leverage + any effort

---

Step 4: Apply Improvements

Execute the high-leverage improvements. Use Edit for targeted changes, Write for rewrites when >50% is changing.

For each improvement applied, the change should be visible in the diff — don't just describe what you'd change, CHANGE IT.

---

Step 5: Re-baseline

After applying improvements:

BEFORE: [N]/10
AFTER: [N]/10
DELTA: +[N]

IMPROVEMENTS APPLIED: [N]
  [I1]: [one-line summary]
  [I2]: [one-line summary]
  ...

REMAINING OPPORTUNITIES (diminishing returns):
  [I-number]: [what and why it's not worth doing now]

QUALITY BAR MET: [yes/no — if no, what's still short]

---

Depth Scaling

Depth	Read	Find	Apply
1x	Skim	Top 1-2 high-leverage	Quick improvements
2x	Full read	All opportunities, prioritized	Apply high-leverage
4x	Full read + context + comparisons	All opportunities + benchmark against best examples	Apply all worthwhile
8x	Full read + context + history + user patterns	Full quality audit + structural analysis	Rewrite if needed, verify against quality bar

Default: 2x.

---

Anti-Failure Checks

Failure Mode	Signal	Fix
Taste-based changes	"I'd prefer..." without quality justification	Every change must have a WHY rooted in clarity, density, effectiveness, specificity, structure, or completeness — not preference.
Over-improvement	Rewriting working sections that are already good	If it's already at 8/10, leave it. Improve the 4/10 parts.
Feature creep	Adding new capabilities instead of improving existing ones	Improve means make the EXISTING thing better, not add to it.
Cosmetic improvement	Reformatting, renaming, restyling without substance change	Ask: does this make the thing MORE EFFECTIVE or just different?
Improvement without application	Listed what to improve but didn't do it	Step 4 exists. Apply the changes.
Wrong tool	The thing is actually broken, not underperforming	Use /fix for broken things. /improve assumes working baseline.

---

Integration

• /fix → for broken things. If /improve discovers the thing is fundamentally broken, route to /fix.
• /araw → stress-test whether improvements actually make it better
• /cmp → compare before/after versions
• /cls → check improvements against specific quality criteria
• /iterate → for multiple rounds of improvement

---

Execute now.